


Poppies

by adstrum



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Hanahaki Disease, Other, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 07:01:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8880457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adstrum/pseuds/adstrum
Summary: Sometimes Leo wondered if he was dreaming. (He wasn’t. The petals he hastily shoved into his trash can were always there when he woke up.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I had this written for a couple weeks and I really didn't know if it was good enough to be posted since I haven't written anything serious in years, but here I am anyways.  
> The meanings of flowers are at the bottom, in the order they appear. And so is the meaning of the flower that is the title.  
> Also I'm sorry for the tags I did as little as I could because how do you tag.

The first time it happened, Leo had brushed it off. Too engaged in his music, he ignored the petal that he coughed up. He hadn’t really been paying attention, and when he had noticed the petal he was confused. There were no flowers in his room, nor were there any in the house. He threw it away with an empty red marker.

The second time was similar to the first. So were the third and fourth. The fifth time, he noticed there was more than a single petal. The times after, he coughed up many more. It wasn’t something that impacted him too badly, so he ignored it. Sometimes Leo wondered if he was dreaming. (He wasn’t. The petals he hastily shoved into his trash can were always there when he woke up.)

The mysterious petals were beautiful, Leo decided. He wasn’t sure if he really coughed them up or if he had made that part up, but the existence of these petals fascinated him. Why did they appear? He didn’t know, and he didn’t care too much. As long as these beautiful petals continued to intrigue him, he didn’t mind where they came from.

It was at one of Knights’ practices. He held multiple markers, as well as one in his mouth. The papers Sena had chucked at him were spread out in front of him, marked with many different colors. The other members of Knights ignored him, leaving him to his own devices. The humming and muttering was normal; they had gotten used to it forever ago. The coughing wasn’t anything that alarmed them either. They assumed he had caught a cold, and Tsukasa went to offer him a cough drop.

“ _Leader_ , would you li-” the red haired first year suddenly stopped, taking a moment before quietly speaking again, “ _Jesus Christ_..!”

Somewhat interested, Izumi turned to look at the two. He expected the song being the object of interest. He did not expect the assorted petals that greeted him.

“You...Who is it?” Izumi demanded, marching to the green eyed composer.

“Eh? What do you mean?” Leo tilted his head, confused. He honestly had no idea what Sena was talking about.

“I’m asking you who! Who are the flowers for?” the silver haired teenager yelled.

Arashi, interest piqued by the noise, nearly dropped his mirror when he saw the flowers. (He didn’t, because this one was his favorite, one of a kind, and the whole world would have lost something valuable.) He looked at the petals, trying to identify some. He could clearly see sunflower petals, as well as orange rose petals. Perhaps those were red chrysanthemum? He vaguely remembered the meanings of the flowers, and wondered why _Ou-sama_ , of all people, was coughing up flowers.

Ritsu watched, his sleep disturbed. Through slightly blurry eyes, he watched Secchan, frantically questioning their leader. He watched Ou-sama, confused. He watched Suu-chan, unsure of what he should do. He watched Natchan, pity in his eyes. He stared at the petals for a moment, before everything fell into place. They were Ou-sama’s flowers; they were Ou-sama’s feelings literally bursting out of him. He looked at them, before he fell asleep once more.

Leo woke his computer up from it’s sleep, impatiently moving the mouse around. When he finally opened up his cluttered browser, he immediately opened a new tab. He let out a frustrated noise, as the browser had decided to stop responding. He spun in his chair for a minute, waiting for his computer to work with him. Finally, he searched his symptoms. Clicking through a few pages, he discovered a disease where flowers grew in the lungs as a result of one-sided, or what the diseased thought was one-sided, romantic feelings. The diseased would cough up petals, and in worse cases, whole flowers. More often than not, the flowers that the infected spat out reflected their feelings. There were three options with this disease. The first would be to get surgery to remove the flowers. However, this method would remove all feelings, positive and negative, towards the loved one, and in extreme cases, all memories as well. About 95% of the time, the surgery would also prevent feelings from developing again. The remaining 5% were the unlucky ones who relapsed. The second option was to confess. If the loved one reciprocated the feeling, the disease would go away as slowly as it appeared. If the loved one did not, the diseased could pick either of the other two options. The third option was to do nothing. The disease would go away if the diseased no longer felt any feelings for the loved one. One _could_ live with the disease their whole life, although it would be painful. It was also possible for death to prey upon the diseased.

Leo hummed while looking through more pages of information. The documents of this sickness were igniting inspiration in him. A love so great and painful that it could cause one to die. It was beautiful; someone’s love taking the physical form of flowers. His fascination was somewhat morbid, he would admit that. But Leo sat still for a moment. He didn’t love anyone romantically, yet why did he have it? Was it one of the very few cases of this disease where the infected had no feelings? (He chose to forget the theory that the ones with apparently no feelings were in denial or oblivious to their own feelings.) He shook his head and grabbed a few markers and some paper, ignoring the nagging voice in the back of his mind.

He only stopped by the classroom to see if he could find a new blue marker. He hadn’t meant to start hacking up petals of daisies and forget-me-nots all over the floor. But he did anyway, because he had no control over his life. Slightly light-headed, he ignored the petals on the ground and loudly asked if anyone had a blue marker. His words were met with frowns, and he wondered if it meant that no one had any blue writing utensil in any shape or form. He watched as Nazu and Kuro stood up, offering to take him to the nurse’s office. The teacher, whose name he had never bothered to remember, allowed the two to do so. Gently pushing him out of the classroom, Kuro handed Leo a blue pen.

“Why don’t you get surgery?” Naru had asked him.

“I’m not in love, so it’ll go away!” he had answered with his usual energy. But when he returned to the comfort of his room, he wondered why indeed. If he wasn’t in love, surgery would be the best and quickest way. Was it his interest in the flowers that grew inside of him? Was he so interested in them that he would suffer longer? Perhaps he was. Or did he have feelings? No, that wasn’t possible. After all, he _would_ know his own feelings. (He ignored the longing he felt in his heart, as gardenia petals began making their way out of his mouth.)

Leo sat in the archery club room, alone, petting the cats that greeted him. Uncapped markers and papers with notes and words written onto it in a rush were spread out all over the floor, forgotten. He hummed softly, before he began coughing again. The petals that fell out of his mouth didn’t seem to stop. He wondered if that was blood he saw on them. (Or were they just red petals?) He couldn’t tell. (But it hurt.) The coughing stopped for a moment, before he hacked up a whole rose. (How beautiful.) He took a few deep breaths, hoping it was over. All the coughing had made him sleepy. Laying down, he continued to pet the cats until his chest stopped moving.

(Good night.)

**Author's Note:**

> POPPY, General -Eternal Sleep; Oblivion; Imagination  
> Sunflower adoration  
> ROSE, Orange -Fascination  
> CHRYSANTHEMUM, Red -I Love  
> DAISY -Innocence; Loyal Love; I'll Never Tell; Purity  
> FORGET-ME-NOT -True Love; Memories  
> GARDENIA -You're Lovely; Secret Love  
> ROSE, Single Full Bloom -I Love you; I Still Love


End file.
